Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-11-18
Our Lumber Interests.
INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE IN TIL
NORTHWESTERN LUMBERMAN.

INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE IN TIL
| NORTHWESTERN LUMBERMAN.
An evolution has been wrought in
the methods of logging on Puget
Sound within the past five years
Prior to that time the only means en-
ployed in transporting the timber from
the stump to the raft were the old
fashioned skid an OK team. Then a
man would secure the right to cut the
timber from some rich timber claim
| near tide water and in short time
and with little expense, he would be.
gin towing logs to the mills. Much Oi
the logging is still being done in this
primitive and slow way, but the rail
roads are gradually supplanting the
skids, and the locomotives are leaving
less and less work for the faithful OK
teams. The logging roads built in
this district during the past five years
have consumed vast sums of money,
comparatively speaking, but the roads
began yielding an income Of earnings
almost from the start, and as the ex-
tensions are pushed farther into the
rich timber belts the more rapidly will
the operators reap the profits.of their
enterprise.
Prominent among these new fea-
lures of Puget Sound logging is the
| Blanchard railroad, the headquarters
of which are at Blanchard, Wash,
about 13O miles north of Tacoma.
One of the principal owners of this
property is Ex-Governor A,ger, of
Michigan. A year ago this summer
the governor, together with the late
Senator Logan, Colonel Bliss, the Sag
inaw lumberman, and many other no
table people, inspected the road and
its surroundings.
The Blanchard Railroad Company
owns about 1000 acres of excellent
timber land, and is now putting into
the water between $4,000 and 10000
feet of fir logs every day. Only the
first two and one-half miles of the
road are being operated at present and
the loaded cars are run from the
stumps to tide water by force of gray
ity, pair of horses being able to haul
two empty cars up the grade. Exten-
sions and side tracks are constantly
being constructed, however, and soon
table land will be reached, after
which locomotive power will become
necessary. Four new cars are now
being built at Detroit, Mich, for this
company, and its facilities for quick
and economical work are being rapid
ly increased. The business here is
under the management of Dudley
Blanchard, formerly of Michigan, who
travels between this city, the mill
posts and the camp, his son George
b. Blanchard, being in direct charge
of the road at Blanchard. The crew
now employed on the extensions of
the road and in the camp number
about IS men and the teams consist of
20 head of oxen and six horses.
Warren Stetson has sold out his saw
mill interests in Minneapolis, and has
come to Puget Sound to locate. His
brothers George, Ed and Roy, have
been for years, and are now largely
interested in the Stetson & Post mill,
which the Stetson Brothers, with J. J.
Post built.
This Stetson & Post mill was the
first one on Puget Sound to introduce
the band saw. 1t is Al foot saw, and
is used for resawing only. The pro-
prietors say they have not yet tested
the saw to see what percentage of
lumber it saves over the old circular,
but they suppose it is about 20 per
cent. 1t is said that the Puget Mill
Company is about to introduce band
saw in the mill at Port Gamble, which |
is being generally overhauled. This
will be the second band saw on the |
Sound.
The business of shipping cedar |
shingles from Puget Sound to the East |
is taking rather lengthy strides. Nor
timer Cook is doing more than anyone |
else in the development of this trade.
The steamer Bob irving arrived from |
his mill the other day, bringing 5OO,-
600 fine looking sawed shingles for
shipment east. The mill, which is |
the pioneer in the exclusive shingle |
manufacturing business on the Sound,
is located on the Skagit river.
A farmer from the Skagit river came |
to Seattle the other day and reported |
that there was considerable demand |
for timber lands up about his home.
He had claim of 100 acres which he
sold last week for 5000, and others
were being sold all around, $40 an
acre being the common price realized.
He also stated that the Puget Mill
Company, the largest on Puget Sound,
operating three large mills and own
ing thousand upon thousands of acres
of the finest timber land, is anticipat-
ing a rise in the price of logs, and its
agents are now buying ali the logs
they can find at SIS a thousand, which
is 81 a thousand advance over the
price that has ruled on the Sound thus
far this year.
Edpop1S n yi1loya in Spnbomisb